Over 40% per cent of Australians don’t get enough sleep.
That puts them at increased risk of everything from Alzheimer’s to heart disease.
How’s yours?
How to Quickly Improve Your Sleep Health
Make sleep your priority. If you do one thing each day, make it a good sleep.
Go to bed and wake up within +/- 30 minutes of the same time each day.
Create a sleep sanctuary. That means investing in a high-quality sleep surface surface in a cool, dark, distraction-free space.
Go outside and get direct sunlight within 30 minutes of waking up. If you can’t, use a SAD lamp instead.
Avoid bright lights (especially screens) at least 1.5 hours before bed.
Have a sleep routine. Set aside an hour to relax and unwind (without screens) before bed.
Avoid heavy meals, alcohol, and exercise at least 2 hours before bed.
Avoid caffeine and naps at least 6 hours before bed.
Ask your doctor about the sleep impacts of any medication.
Don’t lie in bed awake. If you can’t sleep for 20 minutes or more, get up and do a relaxing activity until you feel sleepy.
Sleep Health FAQs
I think I have a sleep disorder. What do I do?
Get advice from your GP or sleep specialist. They can help you diagnose what’s wrong and work out a treatment plan.
Depending on what sleep disorder you have, treatment may include:
- diet and lifestyle changes, such as improving your circadian health
- CBT-i, an evidence-based treatment for insomnia
- therapeutic devices, such as an enhanced adjustable bed or CPAP machine.
How did you create this quiz?
This quiz is based on Ru-SATED, a peer-reviewed scale that’s widely used in sleep medicine. We chose Ru-SATED over other sleep measurements because:
- It can be applied to anyone in any setting.
- It measures sleep health broadly (not just whether you have sleep apnoea).
- It’s easy to understand.
- It’s scientifically validated and has been used by clinicians for over 10 years.
Is this quiz better than the Epworth Sleepiness Scale?
The Epworth Sleepiness Scale is a widely used measure of sleep. (In fact, we used to use it ourselves.) Its biggest drawback, though, is that it only measures one thing: how likely are you to doze off in X situation?
SATED gives you a much clearer picture of your overall sleep health. It covers 5 separate aspects of sleep:
- sleep–wake regularity (R)
- sleep satisfaction (S)
- daytime alertness (A)
- sleep timing (T)
- sleep efficiency (E)
- sleep duration (D).
Each of those aspects corresponds with metrics that we know are important to sleep quality, like:
- duration (how much sleep you get each night)
- efficiency (how much time you spend asleep compared to your total time in bed)
- latency (how long it takes you to get to sleep)
- consistency (how consistent your sleep and wake times are).
Is this quiz accurate?
This quiz is based on Ru-SATED, a peer-reviewed, scientifically validated sleep score system. So, yes, it’s an accurate measure of sleep health – as much as a self-completed quiz can be. To get a clearer, more individualised picture of your sleep, we recommend investing in a wearable or asking your GP to refer you for a sleep study.
This quiz is not a diagnostic tool. If you think you might have a sleep disorder (or any other kind of health condition), get advice from an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.
